Are You Missing Out on New Markets?

Could market research turn up new niches for your products? The CEOs we surveyed indicated they are more likely to use market research to modify existing products and services than to find new markets for their existing lines. Understandably, the CEOs also appeared to invest more time and money in their most recent products rather than in launching lots of new ones; 75% of the group said they'd introduced five or fewer products in the past five years.

Have you used market research to find new markets for existing products or services? No 71% Yes 29%

How many products or services have you introduced in the past five years? One 7% 4 to 5 26%

Two 18% 6 to 10 12.5%

Three 24%

Source: Survey of 173 CEOs, 57% with sales of $10 million or less, by Inc. and The Executive Committee, San Diego, 1992.